MORE than 250 new jobs have been created as the first flights of Stansted Airport’s latest carrier took off.

Package holiday specialist Jet2.com and Jet2holidays officially launched from the airport on Thursday.

The first passengers were treated to personalised gifts and some lucky fliers even received a free holiday.

The carrier will fly to 27 different destinations from Stansted, which is now their first base in the south of England.

During the peak season there will be 96 flights every week to destinations such as Alicante, Corfu and Ibiza.

In total 1.2million seats are now on sale for summer and winter flights this year.

The huge new investment in the airport has already brought more than 250 jobs to Stansted in flight and cabin crew, engineering and ground operations roles, with more set to follow in the future.

Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays, said: “Although today marks Jet2.com and Jet2holidays becoming a truly national brand, our focus will remain the same as always which is providing our customers with low fares, a family friendly experience, and real package holidays.

“That proposition is driving strong demand already and we are confident it will make us a resounding success.”

Andrew Cowan, Stansted Airport’s CEO, said: “This is the start of what we believe will be a very successful partnership, providing people from across London and the east of England with a fantastic range of great value, quality holidays and a wide choice of flight-only options to many European hotspots from their local airport.”

Visit www.jet2holidays.com or www.jet2.com.